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History 101
Plot End tag Another one of Abed's sitcom fantasies is shown. In this segment, he and Troy are cross dressing, so they can attend an "Antics 101" class that is only for women. They are stopped by Dean Pelton who admires their dresses and lets them inside. Britta tries to enter the class but is stopped by the Dean who insists she is male. Shirley opens the door to the class and says a catchphrase while looking straight into the camera. Recurring themes Continuity *'And we're back': The show's fourth season finally returns after an aborted October 19 premiere, debuting on February 7, 2013. The story picks up sometime not long after the Season Three finale "Introduction to Finality", considering that was set in the summertime and the returning episode begins at the start of the fall semester. *'Previously': Abed is continuing his therapy with Britta. *'Replay': Several sequences from Abed's sitcom fantasy feature versions of previous Community moments. These include: **Jeff and Britta in the Season One episode "Modern Warfare". **Troy again wearing his Riverside high varsity jacket. **Dean Pelton wearing the "Duali-Dean" outfit from the Season Three episode "Virtual Systems Analysis". **Annie is missing her favorite purple pen which is handed to her by Troy's monkey. This and her outfit is a reference to the incident that took place in the Season Two episode "Cooperative Calligraphy". **Abed donning a felt goatee, equipped with a bone saw and wearing the exact same outfit he wore in the Season Three episode "Introduction to Finality". *'Middle Eastern Magic 8 Ball': A few ongoing story arcs are set up for the new season are hinted at in the premiere. **Jeff is graduating early once he gets a History class credit. **Troy and Britta's relationship is slowly progressing. **Annie is reconsidering her major. **Dean Pelton is now Jeff's neighbor. **Ben Chang has returned and apparently has amnesia. **Shirley and Pierce's sandwich shop is still open. *'School supplies': **In Abed's "Happy Place", he imagines the study group wearing hipster glasses. Both Jeff and Britta are seen wearing such glasses in the real world. *'School uniform': **Dean Pelton is again seen wearing the Duali-Dean of Man outfit from "Virtual Systems Analysis" in Abed's TV sitcom fantasy. **Troy's letterman jacket is seen in Abed's sitcom fantasy. *'Returning students': Neil, Vicki, Annie Kim, and Leonard return for this episode. In Abed's sitcom fantasy, Evil Abed returns. *'Familiar faces': **Annie's Boobs (the monkey) makes an appearance in Abed "Happy Place" sitcom fantasy. **Actor/comedian Fred Willard is cast as Pierce in Abed's sitcom fantasy. **The Greendale Human Being is seen as a cartoon "Greendale baby". *'A sweet ride': Dean Pelton's Prius, previously seen in the Season Two episode "Messianic Myths and Ancient Peoples's, is featured. Shirley and Annie have made it a target of their senior prank by filling it with popcorn. *'Googly eyes': The relationship between Troy and Britta is featured. *'This must be the place': The cafeteria becomes the site of the "Hunger Deans". Jeff's apartment, Troy Abed and Annie's apartment, Dean Pelton's office and the lounge are all seen in this episode. *Winger speech: Subverted twice. First, when Jeff tells the group about a speech he had planned and later when the Jeff in Abed's Happy Place delivers a Winger Speech while in real life, Jeff had just walked up to the group. *'Coined and minted': "Changnesia": A form of amnesia named after its lone sufferer, Ben Chang. *'Theoretical Phys-Ed': Jeff competes for places in a class called "History of Ice Cream". Running gags *'Annie's Boobs': The monkey makes an appearance in Abed's imagined sitcom opening sequence. *'Attention students!': The dean announces to the students that a competition will take place to determine who gets to take the class called, "The History of Ice Cream". *'Awww!': Shirley and Annie coo when they hear about Troy and Abed's tradition of making a wish at the school fountain. *'Biggest laugh of the night!': Britta and Troy struggle while splashing around in the fountain. *'Britta'd it': Britta messes up Troy and Abed's wish making ritual. *Changuage: Ben Chang makes an appearance at the end of the episode with a note that says he has "Changnesia". *'Deanotation': **The Dean tells the students to "Simmer Dean" when they start to get agitated. He introduces them to a competition called "The Hunger Deans". **In Abed's "Happy Place" sitcom, he imagines the Dean dressed as an aviator and saying, "Coming in for a lan-Dean". When Jeff asks him if he is serious about the group having to take another three years at Greendale, he says "In-Dean I am". *'Gasp': **Annie gasps when Jeff declares he wants the History class to be the last one the group takes together. **The study group reacts to Jeff's news that he will graduate early. *'Gay, he's so gay!': Subverted when Pierce notices that "Jeff's really going after that ball," and tries to make a gay joke but fails to see the obvious double entendre. This continues throughout the episode as Jeff collects six balls. *'Man crush': The Dean tries to stop Jeff from graduating because he's not ready to see him leave Greendale. It's revealed that he moves into a condo just beside the one where Jeff lives. *'Nice outfit': Dean Pelton dresses up in two different dresses and as an aviator. Two of the Dean's "assistants" are dressed as unicorns. *'Pansexual imp': Basically everything Dean Pelton says and does with the red balls. *'Rhyme time': Britta starts reassuring Abed about the senior year by saying, "Here's the deal, Jessica Biel". *'That's you': Annie does her impression of Dean Pelton while in his office. *Troy and Abed in the Morning!: Troy and Abed sing, "Troy and Abed back from summer!" at the start of the episode. *'Turning it into a snake': Britta tries to convince Troy she can adequately fill in for Abed through dance. Pop culture references *'IMDb': Star Wars would be another casualty of wishing to end all wars. *'Shout out': President Obama and Osama Bin Laden are both mentioned by Abed when mentioning how his wishes last year in the fountain regarding them came true. *'TV Guide': Troy points out that Storage Wars would be unacceptable collateral damage of Britta's wish. *'Use your allusion': **Abed imagines the study group as a cartoon show that is obviously referencing "Muppet Babies". Coincidentally, actors Donald Glover (Troy) and Ken Jeong (Ben Chang) both made cameos in the 2012 Muppet movie "The Muppets". Meta references *'Parody': **The Hunger Deans is a riff on the young-adult novel and movie franchise The Hunger Games about a ruthless contest of survival between a group of teenagers in a dystopian society. **''Abed's Happy Community College Show'' is a parody of the multi-camera sitcom format that has long been the standard for television comedies. The use of a laugh track/live studio audience, mugging for the camera, actor replacement, crossdressing, and sudden oversimplified resolution are all tropes of this format. **The theme song of Abed's fantasy sitcom is based on Community's own theme song with new lyrics. This is the second time Abed has rewritten the words to "At Least It Was Here", the first time being in the Season Two episode "Abed's Uncontrollable Christmas". *'Up against the wall': **Abed's anxiousness about the fourth and possibly final year at Greendale and all the changes that are happening to the study group is meant to be a nod at the tumultuous behind the scenes firing of the original showrunner and creator Dan Harmon, the loss of several staff writers and producers, and the anxiety of fans and critics worried about the quality of the show under the new showrunners, Moses Port and David Guarascio. **Jeff tells the group that he took classes over the summer and now only needs one History credit to graduate. This is a reference to the shortened 13 episode order for Season Four, as previous seasons had twenty plus episodes divided into two distinct semesters. Additionally he tells them about a speech he wrote to break the news to the group and goes on to describe what a Winger Speech is all about. Trivia Reception 'Critical reaction' "Hisotry 101" writer and Community Executive producer Andy Bobrow in an interview with Splitsider.com gave his own criticism of the episode: He added: 'Ratings' "History 101" had 4 million viewers and a 1.8 rating among adults 18-49, up 6 percent from its previous debut with "Biology 101" back in September 2011 and and up 38 percent from a 1.3 for the previous season finale "Introduction to Finality" on May 17 . That was good enough to land them third in their time slot, trailing only "The Big Bang Theory" and "American Idol", which likely would have beaten almost any show on almost any night. On the Twitter, "Community" racked up a whopping 20 trending topics during the initial broadcast. Critic Brian Collins from Badass Digest noted the seeming disparity between the show's popularity and its ratings last year: Production left|250pxOn August 7, 2012, Joel Mchale released a photo via his twitter account of the cover of the script for the first episode of Community Season Four which revealed the what subject the study group is taking in their final year at Greendale. On September 7, 2012, Entertainment Weekly revealed more details about the Season Four premiere hinting at the multiple outfits Dean Pelton would wear along with the tango he would do with Jeff. Various promotional material including a clip Joel McHale brought to his appearance on the Ellen show was released in anticipation of the October 19 premiere. Premiere date delay On October 8 NBC released an official statement that "Community" premiere would be changed to a date to be determined later. On October 30, NBC made the decision to have Season Four pushed back to next year and "History 101" was rescheduled to air on February 7, 2013. Production Design Production designs for the "Greendale Babies" sequence Quotes Sources #TV Line Casting for new Community teacher #TV Line Matt Bloom cast in Community #Joel's photo he tweeted of the script #Entertainment Weekly spoilers #zap2it.com "History 101" ratings #Slate article on History 101 by Aisha Harris Category:Season 4 Episodes Category:Community Episodes Category:Troy and Britta Category:Annie and Shirley